Keating’s use of Gen 8:7 is unfortunately based on
a bad translation of the Hebrew and does not make the point Keating thinks it
does. Keating cites the Douay-Rheims version of the passage (“went forth and
did not return, till the waters were dried up”) and then states: “In fact, we
know the raven never returned at all” (Catholicism and Fundamentalism,
285). The Hebrew וַיֵּצֵ֤א יָצוֹא֙ וָשׁ֔וֹב עַד־יְבֹ֥שֶׁת הַמַּ֖יִם, however, is better
reflected in the newer Catholic translation the NAB: “it flew back, and
forth until the waters dried,” which is essentially the same rendition given by
the NIV (“it kept flying back and forth until the water had dried up”)
and the NASB (“which went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried
up”). Obviously, the flying back and forth could have lasted only until the
water dried up and need not have continued after that point, making Keating’s
use of this passage precarious. (Eric D. Svendsen, Who is My Mother? The
Role and Status of the Mother of Jesus in the New Testament and Roman
Catholicism [Amityville, N.Y.: Calvary Press, 2001], 285 n. 45)
